Relative Effects of Road Risk, Habitat Suitability, and Connectivity on Wildlife Roadkills: The Case of Tawny Owls (Strix aluco)

被引:63
作者
Santos, Sara M. [1 ]
Lourenco, Rui [2 ]
Mira, Antonio [1 ]
Beja, Pedro [3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Evora, CIBIO Res Ctr Biodivers & Genet Resources, Evora, Portugal
[2] Univ Evora, Inst Ciencias Agr & Ambientais Mediterran, LabOr Lab Ornithol, Evora, Portugal
[3] Univ Porto, CIBIO Res Ctr Biodivers & Genet Resources, EDP Biodivers Chair, Vairao, Portugal
关键词
SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS; CONSERVATION BIOLOGY; VEHICLE COLLISIONS; LOCATIONS; PATTERNS; ECOLOGY; PERFORMANCE; REGRESSION; MOVEMENT; HIGHWAY;
D O I
10.1371/journal.pone.0079967
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Background: Despite its importance for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, there is still incomplete understanding of factors responsible for high road mortality. In particular, few empirical studies examined the idea that spatial variation in roadkills is influenced by a complex interplay between road-related factors, and species-specific habitat quality and landscape connectivity. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we addressed this issue, using a 7-year dataset of tawny owl (Strix aluco) roadkills recorded along 37 km of road in southern Portugal. We used a multi-species roadkill index as a surrogate of intrinsic road risk, and we used a Maxent distribution model to estimate habitat suitability. Landscape connectivity was estimated from least-cost paths between tawny owl territories, using habitat suitability as a resistance surface. We defined 10 alternative scenarios to compute connectivity, based on variation in potential movement patterns according to territory quality and dispersal distance thresholds. Hierarchical partitioning of a regression model indicated that independent variation in tawny owl roadkills was explained primarily by the roadkill index (70.5%) and, to a much lesser extent, by landscape connectivity (26.2%), while habitat suitability had minor effects (3.3%). Analysis of connectivity scenarios suggested that owl roadkills were primarily related to short range movements (<5 km) between high quality territories. Tawny owl roadkills were spatially autocorrelated, but the introduction of spatial filters in the regression model did not change the type and relative contribution of environmental variables. Conclusions: Overall, results suggest that road-related factors may have a dominant influence on roadkill patterns, particularly in areas like ours where habitat quality and landscape connectivity are globally high for the study species. Nevertheless, the study supported the view that functional connectivity should be incorporated whenever possible in roadkill models, as it may greatly increase their power to predict the location of roadkill hotspots.
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页数:11
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